If you have ever felt very dumb, this will make you feel better.

So I entered a contest that I actually trust to read the whole thing. Merit-based, no games, at least in my opinion.

Two weeks ago, I found out that I made the quarterfinals. Nice, right?

Tonight, I opened up the script, thought I'd look at the glorious thing-

and I had sent in a horribly corrupted pdf. I'm talking about dialog where action should be. Doubled character names before dialog. Scene headings that were actually dialog blocks.

I feel so stupid.

(and is it possible that I DID send in the 'good' pdf? Yes. Is it possible that the brilliance of the concept and my skill actually impressed the first readers enough to get past the first cut? Sure.)

(and if you're here to mock me for the amateur hour goof, trust me - you'd have to go a few miles to get past the shit I've said about myself tonight. Good luck, God bless).

I'm going to drop a note tomorrow to the contest folks explaining what happened and begging for a do-over. It's a long shot but I've done OK in worse situations than this.